06/28/2018

I was delighted to participate in this National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine workshop earlier this year: “PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED
DEATH Scanning the Landscape.” The 145-page proceedings is now available.

As a matter of public opinion and of public policy, a national dialogue is taking place around the question of whether, and under what circumstances, terminally ill patients can access life-ending medications with the aid of a physician.This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from a workshop of the NASEM. The workshop explored what is known and not known empirically about the practice of physician-assisted death, as well as some of the moral and ethical considerations regarding the practice.

Speakers at the event discussed:• What do data show about access to and practice of physician-assisted death in the United States and in other countries, and what are the data gaps?• How are clinicians and health care institutions responding to the legalization of physician-assisted death in some states?• What is known about how palliative care and hospice services have incorporated the practice of physician-assisted death in states where it is legal?